Tag Archives: Isaiah Thomas

There’s nothing like a Jermaine O’Neal injury to make Mark Jackson a better coach, is there? The Warriors played big virtually every minute of the first two games. But in this game against the Kings, Jackson was forced to give major minutes to Speights and Lee at center, and to Draymond Green at power forward in the second and fourth quarters.

Accidentally causing the Warriors to explode. Oops!

I have nothing against the Warriors playing big, particularly in the first and third quarters. Those are the quarters to meet size with size, force with force. And to save the bodies of your most gifted players for crunch time, and the playoffs.

And — in principle — I have nothing against the Warriors playing big with their second units, and in crunch time, either. Just so long as by doing so they are putting their BEST team on the floor.

As this game indicated, those big teams need to be pretty darn good if Jackson prefers them. Because the Warriors smallball units of Lee or Speights at center, Green or Barnes at stretch-four, Iggy at free safety, the Splash Brothers, and a sprinkling of Toney Douglas on top, are going to be absolutely extraordinary.

Wrote this list of 2013-14 fantasy basketball sleepers and busts up off the top of my head this evening. It’s possible I’ll add to it towards the end of training camp, so fantasy visitors might want to check back.

As always, all of my opinions are price sensitive, ie. directly correlated to where the players are projected. Continue reading →